Years ago Tanja discovered this workout guru, a kind of tiny firecracker of positive energy and anodyne motivational platitudes named Autumn Calabrese. Autumn packaged her fitness advice in a series called “21 Day Fix” and later, “9 Week Control Freak,” and, if you needed more “80 Day Obsession,” followed by a reprise of 21 Day Fix called “21 Day Fix/Real Time” and then the low-impact “Four Weeks for Every Body” and, of course, for the completist fan, “Country Heat,” which sought to get you fit while teaching you line dance moves.

Some people in the family thought that Tanja’s interest in these videos was cute but kinda laughable. But as Autumn says, “Not everyone is going to support your journey. And that’s ok, because you’re not doing it for them, you’re doing it for you.”

One of the stunning things about Autumn is her optimism. “Give me 21 days and I’ll give you the body you always wanted.” The videos are essentially Autumn and a cast of extras going through simple exercises that typically last 60 seconds each because as she says, “You can do anything for 60 seconds.”

Of course, you quickly find out that actually there are many things you can’t do for 60 seconds. And you notice that at the end of 21 days, not a single person in her workout group has transformed their body in any visible way. To be fair, most of them started with the body they likely always wanted, but even Kat, the token “out of shape” person who demonstrates the modifications, does not change one iota over the 21 days.

And, neither do you. Not visibly. But you will likely notice that the exercises that crushed you in week one– mountain climbers maybe, or surrenders, or burpees–are magically kinda doable at the end of 21 days. Not easy. Not pleasant. But doable for something closer to 60 seconds.

Autumn has a phrase for this. “It doesn’t get easier. You get stronger.”

Sometimes annoying platitudes are very, very true.

This morning, as we were plotting the day, I sensed flagging spirits in Tanja. On cross-examination she revealed that she felt like she’d worked really hard on Thursday and was somehow nothing but tired on Friday and now, on Saturday, didn’t honestly feel like she’d progressed.

She has been so incredibly upbeat all along–and I have really relied on her spirit to inform my own–that this was hard to hear. But rather than share my thoughts (dismal, negative) with her, I suddenly heard Autumn’s voice in my head.

“Say you did Autumn’s Total Body Cardio workout yesterday,” I offered, “would you wake up today and say, ‘Hold on, how come I’m not ripped?’”

“No,” she said. “I would not.”

I could tell from the tone of her voice that this argument was a winner. I pursued it further.

“When you do Autumn, you look for little improvements over long periods of time. Why would this process happen faster?”

“It wouldn’t,” she said. “Just a little better today that I was yesterday.”

“That’s right!” I said. “You know that wound on the back of your head hasn’t even healed yet. Why would your spine heal any quicker?”

“That’s a really good point,” she said.

“It is?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t get on the scale every day and look for progress. I would have confidence in what I’m doing, I would keep after it, and let the gains come. This is no different.”

All this to say, a daily report on Tanja’s progress is going to be light on gigantic milestones. A big part of success is going to come from just keeping on. That’s mindset. And mindset, in my experience, is fed by confidently, repeatedly saying things you don’t currently believe but hope will one day be true.

We got this!